Minor Variation Guidance Notes

Variations to existing premises licences which may not impact on one or some of the licensing objectives could be applied for by way of Minor Variation.

This process may be used for the following purposes:

minor changes of structure or layout of premises,

small adjustment of licensing or opening hours,

the removal of out of date irrelevant or unenforceable conditions or addition of volunteered conditions

the addition of certain licensable activities.

This process cannot be used for the following purposes:

To add the sale of supply of alcohol to your existing licence.

To extend the hours for the sale or supply of alcohol for consumption on or off the premises between the hours of 23:00hrs and 07:00hrs or

Increase the amount of time on any day during which alcohol may be sold or supplied for consumption on or off the premises.

Process

The applicant does not have to advertise their application in the newspaper/newsletter etc., or provide a copy of the application to the Responsible Authorities. However, they must display a white notice [5kb] and this must comply with the requirements set out in the Licensing Act 2003. The notice must be displayed for a period of ten working days, starting on the working day after the minor variation was given to the Licensing Authority. Failure to do so, may result in your application being rejected.

Upon receipt of the application [156kb] with the appropriate fee of £89.00, the Licensing Officer will assess the information submitted on the application form to ensure that it is adequate and any impact it may have on the licensing objectives. The Licensing Authority may then decide to consult with relevant Responsible Authorities if it is felt that the application would impact on any of the licensing objectives and where specialist advice is sought.

The Licensing Authority must consider any relevant representations received from other persons within the allocated time frame which must be based on one or some of the licensing objectives.

If an application is refused and is then resubmitted through the full variation process, a twenty eight day consultation period will apply from the day after the new application for variation is received. This application will then need to be advertised and a copy served on all the Responsible Authorities [104kb] by the applicant.